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“[Race promoter Leo Hindery Jnr] said his organization has been ‘spending like a sailor on leave’ in its campaign to place an F1 race on a 3.2-mile [5.15km] street course in Weehawken and West New York, N.J. that winds along the Hudson River in full sight of the Manhattan skyline. The paddock area, a permanent structure that will have pits for 24 cars, is nearly completed, he said, and paving work on the road course could start as early as next week.”

“We want to be able to demonstrate our point of view, our situation. It?óÔé¼Ôäós not nice sometimes to hear things that you know are maybe quite wide of the mark. I guess when you?óÔé¼Ôäóre quiet, then people can also use their imagination.”

“Should the team be found guilty, a range of penalties is open to the tribunal. These range from a heavy fine through deduction of world championship points to exclusion from a race or even the championship. The middle option is the most likely.”

“I can certainly say that the decision [to do the test] was based in no way on the track performance that we had. I think everyone in Formula One is concerned about some of the delamination that we?óÔé¼Ôäóve seen, so I think that?óÔé¼Ôäós a worthy objective. Certainly nothing to do with the performance of the car, because nothing was aimed at addressing that.”

“It was a pretty difficult time, those past six races. Going into the season we all – the team and I – expected significantly more than where we are now. The main issue as I have identified is that we are simply lacking pace – that we are not quick enough compared to our competitors – and that is not good in racing. Nevertheless we find ourselves in this situation and we have to dig ourselves out.”

“Sometimes the questions from the local media people, who?óÔé¼?¿ aren?óÔé¼Ôäót experts on F1, are quite funny. Today, for example, one guy?óÔé¼?¿ asked me how we would cope with the experimental tyres we have here if?óÔé¼?¿ the rain that is forecast for Friday arrives. I had to point out that?óÔé¼?¿ in that event we?óÔé¼Ôäód naturally be using rain tyres?óÔé¼?¿…”

“Most to prove: Romain Grosjean. I picked him for this in Monaco as well and he duly gave his critics an armful of ammunition with a crash-strewn performance. We know he can do quick, but we need to know he can cut out the incidents.”

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#F1 Merc: "Nico did clarify his comments, that he was only given generic info on the tuyres. So in that sense he knew. but nothing more."

Comment of the day

If testing is brought back then expect the big teams to dominate and the mid-field teams to fall back again. I?óÔé¼Ôäód also expect to lose some teams as costs increase further.

I also expect testing will allow teams to figure the tyres out much sooner in future season which will make racing more boring. Also big teams will be able to develop there cars faster so will pull away from mid-field teams even more early in the year.

The test ban has been great for the racing and testing should therefore stay banned.Akira-Fan

43 comments on “New Jersey race “definitely on” say promoters”

It’s so sad (and dissapointing) to see Sauber has hit trouble, not allowing Nico Hulkenberg to show his whole potential. It was ironic that oine of the big moves ov the year from FI to Sauber started with him not even being able to run the race. Let’s hope the car improves to make him shine. I think nobody wishes him to be just another Nick Heidfeld in the pack.

Sauber had 4 podium finishes in 2012 to Force India’s 0, and two of those were close calls with outright victory. Much of SFI’s late season surge was because of Hulkenberg, who scored points in 5 of the last 6 GPs compared to Di Resta who had just one in that same span.

Interestingly enough, his career path has looked a lot like Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s – Sauber, the former Jordan team, Williams…

But I wouldn’t worry if Nico struggles through this season, as long as he’s still motivated. Sauber’s still doing better than the lower third of the grid.

And yet Force India were only 17 points behind Sauber in the final standings. It’s rare I agree with Di Resta, but whatever way you look at it it was a sideways move. Hulkenberg should have stayed put until one of the bigger names came calling.

@debaser91 I find it hard to believe Hulk made the move without any other motivation. One could be FI’s financial difficulty (it could very well pack up at a moment’s notice especially if Kingfisher collapses), but I think Hulk is in line to replace at Massa at Ferrari (ergo the move to Sauber as he can more directly observed there by Ferrari).

@debaser91 Yes, but Force India being close was more down to execution than raw pace. Drivers, pit stops, strategy, Force India made a much better use of their car than Sauber in 2012. The C31 was a very competitive car that should probably have been a winner and a more regular podium scorer.

I think, that it’s great possibility, that Hulkenberg will again change team next year. If Webber decides to retire and Kimi stays at Lotus, Hulkenberg might be the best candidate for Red Bull seat, given Toro Rosso drivers won’t surprise in the remaining races. Hulk is consistent, quick, he has similar skills as Alonso, and big teams would be foolish to overlook him.

Maybe not next year, but there’s nothing stopping them getting a race so long as they have to things:

1. A lot of Peso.
2. A grade 1 circuit.

Perez will help raise F1 interest higher and higher in Mexico with every success of his which will help grow demand for holding a race in Mexico. Lots of Mexicans attended the CotA race across the border in Texas until then so there is a definite interest already.

New Jersey should be given the green light and we will have 21 Races next year maybe 22 in 2015 with Thailand coming and Mexico and Korea dropped@journeyer
I didn’t even know that Arizona was even interested until couple days ago I saw Arizona eager to host a GP

I bet Mexico will get a race soon, since Carlos Slim is taking such an interest in the sport, and Ecclestone seems serious about building up the number of races in the western hemisphere. I doubt Arizona or Long Beach are seriously in the mix: Arizona can’t really afford it since the housing crash, and Long Beach is a busy shipping port, not a tourist attraction, it’d be a waste of money for them.

@pelican I didn’t even know Arizona was interested – their last F1 attempt at Phoenix was awful. But don’t underestimate Long Beach – it’s one of the most iconic races in America (certainly was back in its F1/CART heyday), and Bernie would love to go back there under the right circumstances.

@journeyer – I believe this is the article Pelican is referring to, which is a sort of non-story about a group of people who might or might not build a circuit that might or might not be used for Formula 1 at some point in the future.

@journeyer & @prisoner-monkeys – yeah, I know about the old races and the Indycar race, but F1 has to be an order of magnitude more expensive to both host and buy tickets to than it was however may years ago, or than Indycar today. So why would they want to give the popular Indycar race up, put in all the infrastructure that F1 requires, pay the exorbitant race fee, jack up the ticket prices, and hope that people come on account of a reputation earned decades ago? There are no tangential benefits to the city of Long Beach, the container ships will dock there regardless and the jet-set attendees will stay in LA. It doesn’t add up.

@pelican Because while it is a popular race for IndyCar, IndyCar is no longer such a popular series. The LA jet-set will show up at a Long Beach F1 race, with Simon Fuller’s help (if anything, a lot of them have been showing up lately with or without the Fuller connection). And FOM will likely give a discount – they are really keen to promote this directly as part of a plan to have 6 races in the Americas to build ratings there and in Europe.

Why would they build a 24 car pit line while the current max grid for F1 is 26? If they do host the race over many years (as expected of a facility of its intended caliber) what would happen, say in 2016 or further, if F1 had a 26 car grid and they do not have any room to expand their pit lane?

I know I am taking some assumptions & throwing in some ‘what ifs’, but it does not make sense to build a 24 car pit lane for a series that could potentially have a 26 car grid in the future (at least the rules allow for it). Not to mention support race grids. It is a very minor detail in the grand scheme of things, but it seems a bit stupid to me; if you are already building 24, why not save yourselves the risk and just build 26?

Why would they build a 24 car pit line while the current max grid for F1 is 26?

Because twenty-six cars means thirteen teams, and a thirteenth team can only join the championship if the twelve existing teams agree to it. Right now, there are only eleven teams, so the sport would have to find one extra team before it can consider moving up to thirteen, and nobody has really shown a serious interest in entering the sport.

Because it’s an American government entity building it? This way when they need those two extra slots, they can level the whole thing and rebuild the whole thing! While of course giving the contract to the highest bidder with the most kick-backs.

Former hurricane Andrea is moving up the East Coast of the US, and if I’ve read the National Weather Service maps right, the center of the storm is going to be off the Canadian coast tomorrow, but it’s going to dump half an inch (~1 1/2 cm) of rain on Montreal before it passes.

According to weather reports they are indicating that there will still be rain on the cards. I pray for Vettel to get DNF and making the other young guns come through the pack and show what they are made of

I also expect testing will allow teams to figure the tyres out much sooner in future season which will make racing more boring.

I’m always amazed at the number of F1 fans who feel that F1 is inherently “boring” and that it needs Botox and saline implants (or DRS and mystery tyres) to make it sexy and exciting. You know what would make F1 exciting? If they put those Roman chariot sword thingies that stick out of the wheel hubs and spin around on all the cars.

@jonsan, Me too, why do people feel we have to have random factors like inexplicable tyre degradation determine the outcome of the race to make it interesting. My impression from last year is that 1 of the best races was also the race with the least amount of tyre-factor involved in the result, that is the USGP.

Gary Anderson was dead on about the tyres. First thing he said was for Pirelli to change the bonding agent and not anything fundamental about the tyre as it would make a significant change in the tyre’s characteristics.

@hipn0tic – No. There was speculation that they were going to bid for the twentieth calendar spot, but it came to nothing when the FIA announced that the calendar would have nineteen races. There hasn’t been anything since.